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I also used the Wedgie FAQs page quite a bit.

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One of the admins of Wedgie started following me on Twitter, so I started following him, and asked him some questions.

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Heidi Jones - Social Networks for Scholarly Research/Learning

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Heidi Jones - Social Networks for Scholarly Research/Learning

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Yamaguchi, M. & Maguth, B. (2011). Using social networking in the social studies for global citizenship: A case study of Japan’s 3:11 quake. Society for Information Technology and Teacher Education, (3260-287).

This article explores the use of social media in social studies courses to track primary and secondary sources, access discussions and groups around the world, and find groups to support victims of natural disasters. These researchers looked specifically at the actions of people as they turned to social media following major natural disasters. They analyzed the use of social media and made conclusions, based on the study of education, of how social media could be beneficial in education. They argue that using social media in education is beneficial for two main reasons: the first-person accounts found on social media can rarely be found in textbooks, and when students produce on social media, they are putting their work in front of an authentic audience that can give them real-world experience. This article is pertinent to my workplace in that we are always searching for ways to engage and connect with our students, and social media is a great way to do this. Using social media as a scholarly research tool is something our teachers could use to create connection with students and connection between the students and the material they are studying.

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Meishar-Tal H., Kurtz G., & Pieterse E. (2012). Facebook groups as LMS: A case study. The International Review of Research in Open and Distance Learning, 13(4), 33-48.

My company is an LMS creator and provider, so free alternatives to LMS are intriguing to me and something my company of course tries to stay aware of as we are constantly innovating. This article details a case study conducted by professors from the Open University of Israel, for which they evaluated the usefulness of Facebook as an alternative to an LMS. They described their methodology for the study, then detailed the pros and cons of using Facebook as an LMS. Some of the pros include no cost, no technical maintenance, Facebook seems to foster more interaction with content, and more synchronous communication is available. Cons include that Facebook lacks some of the sharing capabilities of most LMS, Facebook dictates the organization of the group, and group members and administrators have many of the same capabilities. The biggest con is that Facebook’s assessment capabilities are virtually null, and it is not possible to store and track grades in Facebook. In the case study, the researchers found that using Facebook as an LMS enhanced collaboration and socially-motivated, active learning. Students did find some difficulty in the organization of material, and in separating their social presence on Facebook with their schoolwork. The researchers concluded that depending on the goals and functions of a course, Facebook can be used as an effective LMS, with the support of some other free tools such as Google Drive.

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Boitshwarelo, B. (2011). Proposing an integrated research framework for connectivism: Utilising theoretical synergies. International Review of Research in Open and Distance Learning, 12(3), 161-179. Athabasca University Press.

The theoretical lens I chose to view these articles through was connectivism. Connectivism looks at learning as heavily influenced by social and cultural context, and looks at ways educators can capitalize on that aspect of learning with their students. This article put forth “a research framework for connectivism that integrates approaches commonly used in online learning environments,” (p. 161) such as social media, LMS, and SIS. The framework “integrates the theories of online communities of practice, design-based research, and activity theory to construct a research framework that is characterised by a synergistic relationship between them” (p. 161). This framework allows researchers to look at the use of social media in educational settings through the lens of how it connects students to the social world around them and leads them to learn better with connectivist principles. The writers of this article propose this framework and ask that researchers who use it report back as to its usefulness so that they may more fully see its use in educational research settings. Reading this article gave me a way to look at different research results with an overall learning goal in mind. I am very interested in connectivism, as I think it applies even more as a learning theory in this digital age. This article gave a cogent argument for their framework as a way to connect studies back to connectivism.

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I plan on using Wedgie, an online polling tool, as the social media I will test. My company is pretty careful with their social media presence, so I can't publicly post anything I am doing for work. This is a tool that I can use internally that I think will help with my online trainings.

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Video Tutorials--https://support.edmodo.com/home#entries/25546009-video-tutorials

Gamification in the Classroom--https://www.smore.com/166s

Edmodo Sync (makes it easier for teachers to connect with each other)--https://www.edmodo.com/sync?utm_source=Shows+2015&utm_campaign=377fcc62ca-ISTE_Teacher_Follow_Up7_8_2015&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_1053f416be-377fcc62ca-276172805

Self Guided Trainings-- https://www.edmodo.com/training#self-guided

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Steve Smith - Using Google Docs in the Classroom

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Steve Smith - Using Google Docs in the Classroom

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Here are a few sources I found pertinent to Google Docs:

http://lifehacker.com/the-best-google-docs-features-youre-probably-not-using-1570728322

http://www.edudemic.com/10-things-every-teacher-know-google-docs/

http://www.educatorstechnology.com/2012/07/tips-every-teacher-should-know-about.html

All of this is so fun and very relevant to high school level teachers.

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So I created a group for my work on linkedin and I was debating whether to make it an open or a closed group. Based on this article, it seems that closed groups are probably much better to stick with always because otherwise the group members get too much spam.

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Are you curious about "Open Groups"? Why are some LinkedIn Groups "Open" and what does this mean for their members? In this post I will explain the difference and outline the implications of being a member in an Open Group on LinkedIn.
A Group Member's Perspective:
Only a Group Owner can decide whether a LinkedIn Group is Open or Closed. I think these terms are misleading and they can cause confusion. When a LinkedIn Group is 'closed' it means that the discussions within the Group are only viewable by members of that group. When a LinkedIn Group is 'open', it means that the first page (or Home Page) of the Group is viewable by non-Group members and anyone on the web can see these interactions. Better descriptions would be 'private' and 'public'.

The only reason for going public (Open) is the added visibility for the Group on the web at large via search engine indexing. Being found on the internet is extremely important for many customer facing businesses (Business to Consumer or "B2C"), a whole industry tweaking and enhancing this visibility has emerged, they specialize in SEO (Search Engine Optimization) and SEM (Search Engine Marketing).

I doubt that being indexed on the web, is something you are looking for when you join a LinkedIn Group. I believe there are 2 downsides for the Open Group Member.

(1) Being seen by everyone on the web may cause Group activity to be reduced. The shyness factor.

(2) It could also result in increased spammer attention on a Group and Individual basis. No thanks.

Bottom line - ask yourself before joining an Open group - do I want my Discussions to be visible beyond the Group and on the web for everyone to see? If the answer is no: check which of your Groups are Open or Closed. How can you tell? Look for a small padlock icon preceding the Group Name.

This Group is Closed.

This Group is Open.
A Group Owner's Perspective:
I run 9 LinkedIn Groups, over 20,000 members. All of my Groups remain Closed. Why am I not persuaded to open these Groups? Here's my reasoning:

(1) It's currently a non-reversible step. If LinkedIn allowed me to try it and change my mind on Open v Closed, I'd maybe try it for at least one of my Groups on a trial. So that's a deal breaker, for me.

(2) As a Group Owner/Manager, the secondary focus after keeping spam out, is decent membership growth. I'd prefer someone to join my Groups rather than be able to view discussion/interaction merely by looking through the open window of the Discussions Front Page. I'm not convinced that having a Group open in this way spurs growth.

(3) Does spam or increased spam result from opening a LinkedIn Group? I don't know. My gut tells me that my Groups could be targeted by bots and frankly, LinkedIn need to give folks who run Groups better anti-spam tools. 95% of the time I spend on Groups involves fighting spam via moderation. I'd like to spend more of that time on encouraging engagement within and promoting these communities.

(4) Since the vast majority of LinkedIn Groups started out as private (Closed), opening Groups without canvassing your members is guaranteed to piss many of them off. I've seen some Group owners attempt to get consent but my guess is that many Open Groups went that way with little or no discussion. That's just bad for business. Just because LinkedIn Groups are virtual doesn't mean that real-world conventions/etiquette ought not to apply.

(5) LinkedIn's open Group experiment has been running for over 2 years now and there's been no findings that I'm aware of signaling whether the initiative has been successful. If it's been good for Groups (in terms of growth, engagement etc,) I would have expected to see that published.

LINKEDIN CONSULTING
If you liked this article, you'll love my customized consulting service. I've helped many professionals to achieve their full potential on LinkedIn. LinkedIn is not somewhere you paste your resumé, sit back and wait for things to happen. It's a complicated and nuanced website portal that requires action, insight, branding strategy and marketing know-how. What you don't know - could hurt you. Whether it's getting more traffic on your Profile, engaging with a stunningly good Summary or refreshing your LinkedIn presence and brand - share your goals with me and I'll help you to achieve all of them via LinkedIn.

Contact me now: linkedinsights@gmail.com / 773.469.6600 to get started.

That's all from me for this week. Please take a few moments to share this article with your network. I read and respond to all comments.

By Andy Foote

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Are you curious about "Open Groups"? Why are some LinkedIn Groups "Open" and what does this mean for their members? In this post I will explain the difference and outline the implications of being a member in an Open Group on LinkedIn.

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This tool seems pretty intuitive, but there are some good training videos. This is the website itself, and for each step a little video is included.

Basecamp:  https://basecamp.com/
Others I looked at:
Basecamp Class - Become a Basecamp Pro ,  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q6cQBMcCbvo

Basecamp Basics in Less than 4 Minutes, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=503u3nUCOmI

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Hi all, I have chosen LinkedIn as my tool because I feel it would be good at my work to network professionally. Moving up the job ladder means that one must have many professional connections in many different companies and positions. I think LinkedIn is the tool that best serves this purpose because I will be able to connect with my current coworkers and it can really help a person in their career during all stages.

I also plan to use LinkedIn to create some sort of group that can further connect some of the people I work with here. I plan to get to know some of the advanced features of LinkedIn as I only know the basic features right now.

Here are some interesting links I found:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/craig-kanalley/how-to-use-linkedin-effectively_b_2744857.html

http://blog.hubspot.com/blog/tabid/6307/bid/23454/The-Ultimate-Cheat-Sheet-for-Mastering-LinkedIn.aspx

http://www.mindtools.com/pages/article/linkedin.htm

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Kristen Mittal--My Literature Research on Social Networking in Social Media

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Kristen Mittal--My Literature Research on Social Networking in Social Media

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Literature Research on Social Media, Mittal

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I think for my specific tool, I am going to try working with Edmodo. Edmodo is a social networking site, similar to Facebook, for teachers to connect with students, parents, and even other teachers/classrooms/schools. Edmodo comes with a variety of tools for teachers to use; I am excited to explore this tool with my colleagues.

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Charisa Dickson--my 3 articles on Social Media in Education and Connectivism

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Charisa Dickson--my 3 articles on Social Media in Education and Connectivism

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Allows people to create newspapers out of Tweets.

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Seems like an interesting way to easily keep track of Twitter (as well as other social media sites).

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How To Use Hootsuite - Beginners Tutorial

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Want even more tips to create engaging social media content? Sign up for my free class here: https://www.KimberlyAnnJimenez.com/free-class To check out a full list of my favorite social media tools click here: http://kimberlyannjimenez.com/top-27-social-media-tools/ In this video I'm going to show you how to use Hootsuite to schedule your social media posts in advance.

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Some of these are pretty obvious but there are some I had no idea about like keyboard shortcuts

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Since its launch in 2006, Twitter has evolved from SMS-based status updates to one of the most popular social networks out there. The platform has more than 200 million active users, and odds are you're one of them - but are you using it to its fullest potential? How can you get the most out of your Twitter experience?

We put together 14 tips and tricks for the social network you thought you knew - how to tailor your trends and suggestions, how to add a Pocket button for easy saving, and even how to gain more followers. You'll be a Twitter pro before you know it.

Do you have any other tricks for Twitter power users? Share your knowledge in the comments below.
Mashable composite: image via iStockphoto, macroworld

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14 Twitter Tips and Tricks for Power Users

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Since its launch in 2006, Twitter has evolved from SMS-based status updates to one of the most popular social networks out there. The platform has more than 200 million active users, and odds are you're one of them - but are you using it to its fullest potential?

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Stephen Cowart - guide to Twitter's advanced search

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Stephen Cowart - guide to Twitter's advanced search

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Whether or not you've signed up for Twitter, you have the power to perform detailed queries on the endless stream of Tweets by using the site's Advanced Search. The feature isn't behind a login and it doesn't take long to learn a few tricks to make your Twitter searches extremely effective.

This guide presents over 40 tips to help you better use Twitter Advanced Search to find sales leads in your area, keep tabs on your brand, or follow a topic important to you. You'll also learn an easy way to set up email notifications for Twitter search results or a Google Docs spreadsheet to log ongoing results.

What's in This Guide

After you learn the ins and outs of Twitter Advanced Search, see "25 Effective Ways to Use Twitter Search for Marketing, Sales and Support".

Ed. note: This guide was last updated on April 7, 2017 to include additional tips
Know the Difference Between Search and Advanced Search

If you've ever searched for word or phrase on Twitter, you've likely used the site's toolbar search field ( above), mobile app search or the search page for non-users. Each of these works great if you're performing a quick search for a word or phrase. If you need more specific results, however, they'll either come up short or leave you with a headache from remembering the needed " search operators"-additions to the search field that perform an advanced query.

Twitter Search Operators

twitter search

containing both"twitter" and "search". This is the default operator

"happy hour"

containing the exact phrase "happy hour"

love OR hate

containing either "love" or "hate" or both

beer -root

containing "beer" but not "root"

#haiku

containing the hashtag "haiku"

from:alexiskold

send from person/company "alexiskold"

to:techcrunch

sent to person/company "techcrunch"

@zapier

mentioning person/company "zapier"

"happy hour" near:"san francisco"

containing the exact phrase "happy hour" and sent near "san francisco"

near:NYC within:15mi

sent within 15 miles of "NYC"

superhero since:2010-12-27

contaning "superhero" and sent since date "2010-12-27" (year-month-day)

election until:2016-11-08

containing "election" and sent up to date 2016-11-08

movie -scary :)

containing "movie" but not "scary", and with a postitive attitude

flight :(

containing "flight" and with a negative attitude

traffic ?

containing "traffic" and asking a question

hilarious filter:links

containing "hilarious" and linking to URLs

news source:twitterfeed

containing "news" and entered via TwitterFeed

While many of the above search operators are good to know, you don't have to memorize them or manually enter them to get more detailed results from Twitter. Instead, rely on Twitter's Advanced Search, which is available when using Twitter's web app.

To access it, either visit twitter.com/search-advanced or click "Search filters" and then "Advanced Search" in the left-hand menu bar on a Twitter Search results page. The page that loads might surprise you with its many options-you're able to search Twitter for specific phrases, find Tweets to or from a user or narrow down Tweets by location. You can even surface only the Tweets that have a happy sentiment. :)

Use a Combination of Search Fields

To find even more specific results, you're able to combine Advanced Search fields. For example, when Unbounce released it guide to webinar marketing, they could have found interested individuals by searching for Tweets that contained "webinar", "marketing" and a "?" and excluded Tweets that had their username or URL.

Beware "Top Tweets" Results

After a search either from the toolbar or Advanced Search, the first results you see are "Top" Tweets. According to Twitter, Top Tweets are Tweets that lots of people are interacting with and sharing via retweets, replies, and more-"Tweets you are likely to care about most first." The company doesn't hand-select the Tweets, but instead employs an algorithm.

To see all the results you're looking for, you'll want make sure to toggle to "Latest" Tweets-just click "Latest" on the top of the results Twitter stream.

Explore the Different Results

In addition to "Top" and "Latest," you're able to narrow in on a few different type of results, namely people, photos, videos, news, and broadcasts. Click on the appropriate tab at the top of the Twitter search results page to filter by:

1. People - Accounts (both people and other entities) whose usernames or bios match your search query

2. Photos - Tweets that contain a photo

3. Videos - Tweets that contain a video link, such as youtube.com or vimeo.com

4. News - Tweets that contain a link to a news site, such as Huffington Post or The Next Web

5. Broadcasts - Tweets that contain live video streams from Periscope

If you're on the Top tab, you might also see a "Related searches" box in the left sidebar with hashtags that could also be of interest to you.

Learn Common Search Queries

With the basics down, let's dive into the first set of fields in Advanced Search: Words.

1. All of These Words

Enter one or more words to find Tweets that contain-in no particular order-those terms. You're also able to insert one or more phrases here, too, by indicating the start and end of each phrase with quotations (e.g."say hello" "say goodbye").

2. This Exact Phrase

This field is limited to one phrase and unlike search fields elsewhere, you don't need to put quotations around your phrase-it does that for you. This can be a helpful field to search for quotes or full names.

3. Any of These Words

Each word or phrase (using quotations) you enter is separated by an "OR" when the search query is performed.

For example, if you're searching for brand mentions on Twitter, you can use this field to not only find Tweets with your Twitter handle but with your company name and website as well. So, you'd enter @Zapier Zapier #Zapier zapier.com, which Twitter then converts to contain the search operator "OR"-@zapier OR zapier OR #zapier OR zapier.com.

Note: Twitter searches aren't case sensitive-a capitalized search term (Zapier) will return both lowercase and capitalized words.

4. None of These Words

This field is easy to overlook, but it's a powerful one. Whatever term or phrase you put here will remove Tweets from your results that contain that word or phrase. Effective uses of this field would be to filter out Tweets that contain a competitor's name or promotional hashtag-or there might be some confusion (perhaps you're looking for "tea" but not "tea party"). This is a great way to cut through the noise and listen to what's really important.

5. These Hashtags

Narrow in on hashtags with this field, although you can search hashtags from other fields as well.

6. Written In (Language)

Surface only Tweets that are written in one of the many language options (over four dozen) listed in this field.

Find Tweets From and To Specific Users

The next three search fields allow you to narrow in on specific users that are either the author or recipient of the Tweet or are mentioned in it.

7. From These Accounts

Find the username of one or several accounts and enter it here with or without the "@" sign.

Tip: To find a username, search for the name of the intended individual or company and click on the "People" results. Google can be helpful here, too, by adding Twitter to your query, e.g. Wade Foster Twitter.

8. To These Accounts

Again, just enter the username of one or several accounts is needed.

9. Mentioning These Accounts

Same here, too, simply enter the username of one or several accounts.

Pro tip: You can use Twitter to find someone's email address if you search for their username plus the keyword "email" or phrase "email address". Although this won't work 100% of the time, chances are heavy Twitter users have shared their email address in a Tweet. If not, there are many other ways to find any email address.

Surface Tweets by Location (Places)
In order for this next field to work, you'll need to have location turned on in your account. Visit the Twitter support docs to learn more.
To surface Tweets or users in a specific area, employ this field by either entering an address, city, state, postal code or country, or for more accurate results, a geocode (the latitude and longitude of a place separated by a comma). By default, Twitter searches a 15-mile radius of the area you've entered. If you want to customize this radius, you'll need to use the search operators in the toolbar search field, e.g. SXSW near:Austin within:15mi or SXSW near:Austin within:5km.

Find Tweets by Location Using Advanced Search

Enter either the name of the location, which could be the full address or just the city, state, postal code or country, or geocode. Cities that share a name, however, will turn up results from both cities. Results will be from inside a 15-mile radius of the location.

Find Tweets by Location Using the Toolbar Search (Recommended)

This is a bit more work, but it yields more precise results because you can edit the default 15-mile radius. To do so, use this query: near:{location} within:{distance}mi or near:{location} within:{distance}km. The location can be either the full address, just the city, state, postal code or country, or geocode.

To combine this with a search term, you'll need use the Twitter search operators, once again. For example, here's the search query you'd use to find Tweets within a two-mile radius of the Austin Convention Center, home to South by Southwest: SXSW OR "South by Southwest" near:30.263559,-97.739525 within:2mi.

How to Find the Geocode of a Location

There are several routes to find the geocode of a place, but a reliable one is to search for the place on Google Maps and pull the latitude and longitude out of the URL.

See Tweets by a Date Range

This feature makes it incredibly easy to search for Tweets either before or after a date or between two dates.

Fine-Tune Your Search

There are a few final search options along with a short list of tips-some already shared above-that can refine your search even more.

1. Focus on Questions Only

If you do customer support, this is a handy option. On top of your search terms, check the "Question ?" box to surface only Tweets that are asking a question.

2. Find Happy and Sad Tweets

Often called the Tweet sentiment, you're able to expose only Tweets that contain a happy :) or sad face.

3. Include Retweets

The final option of Advanced Search lets you "Include retweets", but after several searches with it checked and unchecked, search results don't differ. If you're aware of how this modifies searches, please leave a comment below.

Save Your Search

With the tips above, you'll hopefully be able to write just the right query for your Twitter Advanced Search. And after you've done so, it'd sure be a shame to let that query disappear, so don't miss the feature that lets you save your search. ( You'll need to be logged into Twitter to see the option.)

To later access a saved search query, just click in the toolbar search field, which also shows recent searches.

Get Notifications for New Search Results

Saving a search query can be a handy way to stay on top of important Tweets, but there's an even easier way to do this by using Zapier. With a few clicks, you can set up an automation that will send new search results to your inbox, phone, or team chat app.

When setting up Twitter search automation on Zapier, you'll need to use a search query string that employs Twitter's search operators. There's a shortcut to generating such a string: use Advanced Search and then copy and paste the string that appears on the results page.

Related: " How to Turn Twitter into a New Source for Sales"

Log Results to a Google Sheet

If you don't want to receive individual notifications for each new search mention but do want to keep a record of Twitter activity, you can also use Zapier to save Tweets that meet your query.

Save Favorited Tweets Too

When searching for Tweets, you might come across ones you want to save for testimonials on your site. To keep a record of these, you can set up a Zapier automation that logs any Tweet you like in a Google Sheets spreadsheet.

Tip: On Zapier, you can connect as many Twitter accounts as you'd like to the service in order to add automation to not only your work account, but your personal and side project accounts too.

More Twitter Search Tips

Twitter search is an evolving feature so do expect small or major changes to any of the above going forward, but hopefully this guide gives you more search prowess today.

As you dig into Twitter search, what do you find works well? Did I miss a trick or tip above? Please share it in the comments if so!

Now that you've mastered Twitter Advanced Search, see "25 Effective Ways to Use Twitter Search for Marketing, Sales and Support".

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The Ultimate Guide to Twitter Advanced Search

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Whether or not you've signed up for Twitter, you have the power to perform detailed queries on the endless stream of Tweets by using the site's Advanced Search. The feature isn't behind a login and it doesn't take long to learn a few tricks to make...

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I have used Twitter in two of my masters classes now but never looked how I could apply this to my students. I want to explore ways that my students will be able to use Twitter to collaborate with one another since I know many of them already have a Twitter account. This is nice because then students will be able to help each other out in the learning process and slightly lowers the burden on the teacher to explain everything.

Depending on who I can get to help me with my professional purpose experiments I might instead look at how Twitter can be used to collaborate with a Professional Learning Community (PLC). This would allow me a way to see how Twitter could be used among my peers at my school.

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Steve Smith - Google Docs for Collaborative Writing

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Steve Smith - Google Docs for Collaborative Writing

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This is exciting. My students all have iPads in the classroom. I hope Google Docs and iPads "play nice." I'll have to research that as well.

I'd like for my students to create shared documents to draft essays together. I still want them to turn in their own papers, but I'd like their peers to help each other on the front-end in terms of editing suggestions. Theoretically, one student could receive editing help and suggestions from, say, three of his peers on the front end prior to him turning in his paper to me. The converse of this is that this student would have edited and given feedback to three students as well as he is drafting his own essay. Honestly, the possibilities are endless, and I'm giddy at the prospect of trying this in my class.

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Google Docs: Online Document Editor | Google Workspace

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Use Google Docs to create, and collaborate on online documents. Edit together with secure sharing in real-time and from any device.

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Review of Scholarly Literature

Steve Smith

Arizona State University

EDA 598

Dr. Foulger

July 7, 2015

Using Technology to Foster Writing Collaboration

My focus will be on writing collaboration in the high school classroom. In previous years, I’ve had my students share their printed essays in groups.  This was done post facto and was never immediate.  I’d like to look at different ways to share student work in a quicker fashion.  First off, though, I’d like to research how to effectively use group work in my classroom.  Without this foundation, all the bells and whistles go by the wayside.  And so, as a teacher who teachers freshman English, I’d like to do a better job of having my students work in groups, critique their own writing, and offer real-time suggestions to their peers.

I definitely see myself using Google Docs and Twitter as a technological response to my issues with students printing out their essays and sharing them right before they turn them in to me.

Google Docs seems really fun. I have learned that students can set their documents so that they are both “owners” and “editors” of the same document. That way, they could work on a shared doc together in real time. One student could, for instance, write the first sentence and his partner could write the second. Additionally, one student could write a sentence, and his partner could improve it with better adjectives or stronger verbs. Really, the possibilities are endless.

In terms of Twitter, I think there is so much that could be done as well. Given its character limitations, word economy would be something to concentrate on. No longer can students write and write and write themselves into their central theses.  Five pages later, they have it. Instead, they would have to think out exactly what they’d like to say and be mindful of word choice. One student could Tweet his partner and the other could Tweet him right back with a suggestion. Another method that could use Twitter is I could Tweet out a writing prompt to my entire class, and my whole class could Tweet me back with a thesis. The writing would be economical, immediate, and succinct.  That having been said, I also need a better framework to creating and utilizing groups in my classroom before I get to the exciting stuff.  Once I become a group work master, I’ll be able to use things like Google Docs and Twitter to promote positive group work experiences in my classroom.

Article 1:

“The Discourse of Collaborative Creative Writing: Peer Collaboration as Context for Mutual Inspiration” by Eva Vass

The author acknowledge collaboration as something central to human survival in her article, which is so foundational and simple, and I wonder why we’ve gotten away from it in education. I am guilty of this as much as the next teacher. I lecture too much.  This is hubris – I mean, I am not Socrates, and even he asked more questions than he lectured. In this article, Vass articles that creativity is not necessarily innate, but rather it can be observed and learned. I agree.  I’ve always enjoyed “stealing” from my more creative peers, and I think observing their creativity has enabled me to tap into my previously fallow creative side of my brain.

And so, this article is important because it argues that group work is a means for enhancing creativity in individual students. I agree wholeheartedly, I need to be reminded of this sometimes, and I need to loosen the reins on my classroom structure with more group writing projects that promote creative experiences.

Article 2:

“Collaboration through Writing and Reading: Exploring Possibilities” by Anne Haas Dyson

This piece by Anne Dyson compares writing collaboration to Sisyphus’ punishment, which was to push a boulder up a hill over and over again because as soon as he’d almost finish his task, the boulder was destined to fall down the hill again. I think I’m more with Eva Vass here.  I want to believe collaboration is intuitive and innate within as us. Still, maybe Dyson is right because if it’s so easy, why don’t more teachers use writing collaboration or collaboration in general in their classrooms? Dyson must be on to something.  She writes about the cognitive processes and strategies that students employ when they work in groups. So much more is going on in their brains when they collaborate as opposed to passively taking in information from a lecture. Yes, there are times and places for lectures, sometimes they are needed as a means to dispense information (though this is even going out of style with the implementation of the flipped classroom), however, when connections can be made within groups amongst peers, these discoveries and understandings are so much more powerful than when information is gleaned from lecture.

Article 3 (Theoretical Lens):

Sense of Community Theory

McMillan and Chavis (1986) describe the Sense of Community Theory and how its understanding evolved at their college.  Its growth ties into the ideas of the theory itself as the authors write, “For several years many of us at Peabody College have participated in the evolution of a theory of community” (6).  This small fact seems both unimportant in the overall context of their research and theory, but it also seems to befit and represent the theory at is apotheosis.  The Sense of Community Theory was developed not by a lone researcher but by a community itself.

I believe the Sense of Community Theory is a good lens to look at writing collaboration in the classroom with. I believe that no good collaboration can occur if a teacher has not fostered a positive classroom community. This takes the form of modeling appropriate behaviors and setting rules and norms for collaboration and group work. The teacher cannot simply let his or her students “have at it” in terms of groups. This is one fundamental flaw of group collaboration.  Too many times, teachers assume students know how to effectively work in groups. This is something that needs to be taught.  This is why I liked the use of “different hats” in group work that I learned about in Unit 1. One student might wear the Encourager hat.  Another student might wear the hat of keeping students on-task. I think promoting roles in group work is vital to creating a community of learners who positively support each other and understand that they are all in this together as a means of mutual support and learning.

References

Dyson, A. H. (1989).  Collaboration through writing and reading: Exploring possibilities. National Council of Teachers of English.

McMillan, D.W. & Chavis, D.M. (1986).  Sense of community: A definition and theory.  Journalof Community Psychology, 14(1),6-23.

Vass, E.  (2008).  The discourse of collaborative creative writing: Peer collaboration as a context  for mutual inspiration. Thinking Skills and Creativity.  3(3), 192.

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I have selected to learn to use "Basecamp" which is a project management app. I am an instructor, and not teaching over the summer, but I also advise a student organization called WiSE (Women in Science and Engineering.) Our group is scattered for the summer, but trying to plan our schedule for next year as well as start planning for a conference. I am hoping to use Basecamp to get everyone working on our projects together...while apart! I actually see where this app can also be useful for my classes in the Fall, as there is a group project component in my courses and the biggest complaint is always that they can't find time to meet. With Basecamp there will be no excuse!

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http://journal.acce.edu.au/index.php/AEC/article/view/18

I found this article to be a wealth of information in that it reviews a variety of studies regarding social media and collaboration in the classroom. It draws some very informative, and logical, conclusions, “social media for collaborative purposes is best utilized when: (a) social media is not redundant to current practices but offers something new, (b) strategies are in place to help students learn how to work collaboratively, and (c) the tasks are appropriate.  I found it very enlightening that the authors point out that we can’t assume just because young people use social media, it doesn’t mean they know how to use it for learning.  In fact, they found that students tend to be consumers of information on social media, and often lack experience in producing and publishing information.

Henderson, M., Snyder, I., & Beale, D. (2013). Social media for collaborative learning: A review of school literature. Australian Educational Computing, 28(2). Retrieved from http://journal.acce.edu.au/index.php/AEC/article/view/18

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http://digitalcommons.calpoly.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1132&context=agb_fac

I chose this case study because I am asking the same question posed right at the beginning, "Can social media be used in higher education to enhance learning through student and faculty collaboration?” (Wolf, Wolf, Frawley & Torres, 2012.)  They also addressed the concerns that most instructors tend to have regarding social media in the classroom:  integrity, time, institutional support, and privacy concerns.  The study specifically uses a platform called ValuePulse at California Polytechnic State University and National University of Ireland Galway, but the appropriateness of other platforms was also looked at. Three quarters of the students preferred ValuePulse for communication with faculty, and almost half of the students said it increased their critical thinking skills.  The conclusion in the study states “It is recommended that faculty in higher education engage their students by using a social media platform that is specially designed for higher education to bring their courses up to date with current information and combine knowledge management with social media to enhance the learning of their students.” (Wolf, Wolf, Frawley & Torres, 2012.)

Wolf, M.M.,Wolf, M., Frawley, T., & Torres, A. (2012, ). Using social media to enhance learning through collaboration in higher education: a case study. Retrieved July 6, 2015, from http://digitalcommons.calpoly.ed/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1132&context=agb_fac

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I chose this case study because it deals with learning through the use of social media and collaboration, both of which could, and probably should, be applied within my classroom.  The case study looks specifically at Foreign Language Learning, but the concepts can be applied to any subject.  According to the authors “the case-study findings indicate that collaborative learning processes that are embedded in a social media enhanced learning platform are supportive and conducive to successful problem-solving which leads to successful adult foreign language learning (Mondahl & Razmerita, 2014).  I propose that improved problem-solving skills can be applied to learning a variety of subjects.  This case study also is based on the idea of social-constructivism, which again applies to a variety of subjects.  Some of the ideas discussed are the need for student motivation, the importance of student empowerment, and how the two working together “enhances knowledge acquisition.”  (Mondahl& Razmerita, 2014)

Mondahl, M., & Razmerita, L. (2014). Social media, collaboration and social learning - A case-study of foreign language learning. Electronic Journal of e-Learning, 12(4), 339-352.

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Ahlquist, J. (2014). Trending now: Digital leadership education using social media and the social change model.Journal of Leadership Studies,8(2), 57-60. doi:http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/jls.21332

Social media can give people both positive and negative exposure. Hannah Brechner used social media to spread a message of love through the use of love letters which eventually became an organization that continues to send love letters. On the other hand Justine Sacco wrote a racist tweet while flying to Africa and when she landed she found that she had lost her job and her credibility because of it. People need to be aware of what they post and how it affects their life and one model to keep in mind while posting is the Social Change Model. This model concerns itself with how you present yourself online and how you can become a leader of society through what and how you post. A framework is proposed to go along with this that includes topics such as establishing personal virtual boundaries, building a personal learning network and how to handle cyber conflicts. Through this leaders can help make a better world through what and how they post on social media.

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Junco, R., Elavsky, M. C., & Heiberger, G. (2013). Putting twitter to the test: Assessing outcomes for student collaboration, engagement and success. British Journal of Educational Technology,44(2), 273-287. Retrieved from http://login.ezproxy1.lib.asu.edu/login?url=http://search.proquest.com/docview/1509080722?accountid=4485

Many colleges are more willing to try Twitter than Facebook since it’s more like microblogging instead of talking to friends. Through two studies this paper found that if you use Twitter its best to require it and structure it to be relevant to the course. Faculty should engage with the students on Twitter for everyone to get the most out of it. For the first study out of 125 students, half were required to use Twitter and the other half were required to use Ning. Instructors would interact with students on the platform that they used. These were mostly used for continuing class discussions, giving students an easy way to ask questions, discuss the book, give support and organize study groups. Students were required to post two times and reply to two students to different prompts such as a reading, a video and online papers. Students who used Twitter were more engaged and more likely to collaborate and talk to fellow students. For the second study 135 students were given the option to use Twitter to collaborate or not. The instructors did not work with the students on Twitter for this study. This study showed that there was no real difference in the grades of students who used Twitter versus those who did not use Twitter even though those who used Twitter collaborated together.  The major finds of the study was that requiring students to use Twitter helps students, when you use Twitter in a class it should be in an educationally relevant way and that having the faculty engage with the students is essential to help the students succeed.

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Lampe, C. (2011). Student use of facebook for organizing collaborative classroom activities.International Journal of Computer-Supported Collaborative Learning,6(3), 329; 329-347; 347.

College students are using Facebook to talk to their peers and form a “group mind” where students can work together to make sense of the course and the assignments. The students can find out what each person in the group knows and can help each other search for new information. Facebook is a great tool since it has many different tools for students to engage with one another such as groups, walls, adding each other as friends, private messages and apps. Collaboration can be online only or a mixture being online through Facebook and face to face. Out of 2 studies done at a Midwestern university with 638 students over 97% of the students said that they used facebook. Of those students about 70% said that they used Facebook to collaborate on an assignment, arrange a study group or meeting, ask another student a question releated to the classwork or just discuss classes or schoolwork in general. About 17% of the students who used Facebook in a negative way such as sharing homework answers or sharing answers from a test or a quiz with someone who hasn’t taken it yet. Overall many of the students in the study used Facebook for collaboration without the instructors having to force them to use it.

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Here are some articles that talk about Social Media in the classroom and offers a few ways teachers are using it today.

http://www.edutopia.org/blog/guidebook-social-media-in-classroom-vicki-davis

http://www.academia.edu/1613377/Case_Studies_on_the_Use_of_Online_Social_Networking_in_Formal_Education

http://research.daffodilvarsity.edu.bd/wp-content/uploads/2014/04/E0342733.pdf

The tool I chose to use was Facebook along with Polleverywhere.  For my classroom, a more appropriate tool that is just like Facebook, but safer is a thing called My Big Campus.  Another tool that I already use is a thing called ClassDojo.  It is a behavior/communication tool that both students and parents can use daily.  It is very effective.

Facebook basics tutorial

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RUnmowztKMQ

Poll Everywhere tutorial

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WfgkN2zZIlA

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Listen to this mini-presentation by Dr. Foulger. It contains information about how to organize and use this particular knowledge bank for Unit 2.

Don't forget that the aim-for date for contributions to the knowledge bank is Tuesday, July 8. That way you can use each other's resources for project completion, which is due next Sunday, July 13, at midnight.